How to turn low-performing employees into high performers

It is no secret letting the whole world know what the objectives and goals are. Carved in their mission statements, core values and vision imprints, businesses all over the world portray what they stand for and what they expect from their workforce.By engaging both full-time and casual employees, managers of enterprises still expect targets to be met.

This is to meet organisational goals and whether it is monthly or yearly, they all should conglomerate to square up for what the enterprise stands for. Obviously, this should come from productivity as shown by workers’ output.
Oblivious of the fact full-time employees spend much of their days and larger part of their working time at the workplace, a lot more disengage in their day to day tasks and completion of work schedules.

In a recent survey conducted in America, it was found out that about 63 per cent of workers are not actually engaged in their work, while another 24 per cent are also actively disengaged. Apparently, disengaged staff are more likely to search for other avenues and or opportunities outside of their workplaces for satisfaction. They as well may not offer their best and thus ultimately, may clog down on the performances of the entire team and workforce of the organisations concerned.Approximately, it is envisaged that the price of disengaged staff somewhat lies between $450b and $550b every year and this represents the amount fizzled out on productivity and employee performance.

The key issues to deal with low productivity and performances and output from employees can only be answered by management. The blame may also be put squarely on their door steps as failure to identify shortfalls in attitudes from employees rests on their oars. The bottom line is how to identify and solve those problems.

Why performance

In an analogy on what affect low performances, George, a supervisor of a fruit juice producing company shared his experience with me on how his long vacation affected his own output and that of his juniors. When George finished sharing his story with me, with the last statement…”the holidays came to an end and I haven’t been able to go to the gym or even joined my colleagues to keep fit”…, all that I followed from his narration was the recognition of certain significant setbacks that affect performance from employees. This is what I found;

Challenge employees

It is always going to take extra effort in accomplishing every task assigned despite the availability of resources. It might take dedication and the will to succeed. This is evident in every meaningful endeavour as there are a lot of unanticipated external forces that hamper the progress of target goals.

By setting the appropriate challenges, employees will be able to develop a growth mindset and expand their capabilities in going the extra mile to achieve. This is somewhat missing in the cultures of some organisations, let alone measuring output.Just like George intimated…”It is like the gym experience I had. I found out that one should try to run a little further every time he got onto the thread mill, else you would never get to the final goal and purpose.”

Inadequate preparation

For management not finding time to adequately know the skills gap and the needed resources to get things done, will find their staff not pushing enough to perform as expected. Industry trends on technology and tools for effective work output all needed to be assessed by management and the right ones adopted for targets to be met. George said that “if you go to the gym without proper shoes, it is going to be even harder for you to burn those calories”.

No time for evaluations

It is only through the assessment of completed tasks that managers would know whether individuals’ targets set are being met or not. Most workplaces have no systems of employee performance appraisals and therefore cannot measure work output. Seriously, if staff are not performing, it will be difficult knowing how bad their output is.

No click of what employees are found of

A lot more managers have no idea what pushes their employees. Motivation, passion and perseverance are the driving force and having no idea what constitute these makes it almost impossible to get results satisfactorily from employees.

Improving on the scale

It does show that managers are aware of the secrets that improve upon the performances of staff.It dwells on them to take the initiative but the will is sometimes not there and this makes them and the organisation that they lead lose out on the targets and profits as well.

By improving on the scale, management must still go by the techniques that make them stand out and improve upon the enterprise’s output. This emanates from the employees performance in these forms;

Leadership

Every member of the management team ought to be available to serve as a conduit for higher performance. By creating the atmosphere for enough interactions,management members become a great source of reference point for teething questions on work processes to be answered. They become models to emulate and by their leadership styles, these put a lot in check for expected results.

Goals

By letting employees know what the goals are, they will be guided by that to achieve. They will as well own the vision and plan to meet deadlines. Without goals, it is very difficult for staff to know where the ship is docking, and uncoordinated efforts do not help to meet overall objectives.

Motivation

In as much as employees have different capabilities as skills to achieve, they also need different kinds of encouragement to spur them on for higher performance. It is incumbent on management to figure out the motivator for each and every employee and offer the necessary platform that would enhance passion and the willingness to improve output.

Reward

Having goals in place, reward efforts. This acknowledges outputs and a little strife on the warfare long, soon will be a triumph of what has been expected. By recognising efforts and performance, the feeling of respect and praise will always ginger morale for greater performance. This is so important and must never be underestimated.

Culture

Management ought to set straight what is expected of every staff or workforce. Ethics must be stressed on. Likewise an environment of team spirit, innovation, democracy and effective communication must be emphasised.

Above all, the can do spirit to achieve set realistic targets must also be borne in mind. All these would propel an expected performance that is high.

Conclusion

Management’s understanding of the policies of employee’s performance in connection with the many of what they know, to a larger extent, will go a long way to ensure their enterprises’ prosperity.

It is said in some circles that “employees really do not leave a company. They rather leave their manager.” In this wise, managers have the task to reduce turnover and improve upon the performances. Really, this is the whole duty of management and nothing more. A real cue, right?

Source: Graphic Business